In addition to unprecedented cuts in Social Security and Medicare, the White House budget targets the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the electrification project created under the New Deal, for sale to private energy firms.

The budget released by the Obama administration on Wednesday marks a significant escalation of the assault on Social Security and Medicare, the most important federal retirement and health care programs in the United States.

Following the imposition of $1.2 trillion in sequester spending cuts, Obama and the Republicans are turning their attention to slashing and ultimately dismantling Medicare, the government health insurance program for the elderly in the United States.

Whatever the outcome of the political theatrics in advance of the March 1 deadline, the sequester crisis marks a new stage in the ruling class assault on the social conditions of working people in America.